A Colorado man died of asphyxia after he choked during a doughnut-eating challenge at Voodoo Doughnuts in Denver on Sunday, April 2, the Associated Press reports.
Travis Malouff, 42, was trying to eat a half-pound glazed doughnut in 80 seconds when the pastry obstructed his airway. Onlookers told the AP that Malouff took a sip of water after eating for 30 seconds. His face then turned blue and two fellow customers caught him before he collapsed to the ground.
![The company sign hangs over the windows of the storefront of Voodoo Doughnuts on East Colfax Avenue in Denver on Tuesday, April 4, 2017.](/wp-content/uploads/voodoo-donuts-zoom-452f703b-b791-4a35-8948-4d522b7b170f.jpg?w=1000&quality=78&strip=all)
“Watching somebody participate in an eating contest, it looks like they’re distressed,” eyewitness Julia Edelstein said. “The whole thing looks like a sign of distress. Nobody realized what was happening.”
Paramedics were called, but Malouff died at the scene. The doughnut was reportedly the size of a small cake.
Malouff eerily died on the same day that Caitlin Nelson, a 20-year-old college student, passed away after choking during a pancake-eating contest at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut. The Clark, New Jersey, resident was a junior majoring in social work.
Nelson was 5 years old when her father, James Nelson, a Port Authority officer, was killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in NYC. In 2012, she spoke at the annual televised memorial ceremony at Ground Zero.